14 Perish in Massive Blaze at Mumbai's Rooftop Restaurant; Narrow Exit Trapped Many, Say Survivors

Mumbai: At least 14 people were killed and 21 persons injured after a major fire in a building in Kamala Mills Compound in Lower Parel. Most of the casualties were women who were attending a birthday party at one of the restaurants in the compound.

The fire broke out around 12:30am on the top floor of a four-storied building on Senapati Bapat Marg, a commercial hub of the city. The massive fire quickly engulfed the entire building after it started at '1 Above', a rooftop restaurant here and raged for several hours before it could be brought under control.

"The incident occurred after 12.30 am at One Above pub, located on the third floor of the Trade House Building in Kamala Mills compound on Senapati Bapat Marg, a commercial hub of the city," a police official said.

Police have booked Hratesh Sanghvi, Jigar Sanghvi and Abhijeet Manka of C Grade Hospitality, which manages the pub, along with others, under IPC sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others).

"The fire brigade rescued at least 35 injured persons, who were trapped inside the hotel. They were shifted to a hospital," police said.

The injured were taken to the KEM and Sion hospitals on Friday morning, an official from the BMC disaster management unit said. Doctors at KEM said those admitted at the hospital are stable and either shifted to private hospitals or discharged after primary treatment.

Police said, most of the deceased were women who were attending a birthday party at a restaurant here. They died of suffocation as they tried to escape the fire and entered a men's restroom where there was no ventilation. The 28-year-old woman celebrating her birthday was among those who died, her grandfather told Reuters.

The building, in Central Mumbai, houses some commercial establishments including hotels, pubs and restaurants. Locals and rescuers have alleged negligence on part of these restaurant owners.

It is being further alleged that there was only one entry and exit point at the Kamala Mills Compound, which could have trapped the victims at the building complex amid the raging fire. This single narrow exit point at the building complex proved to be a hindrance for the firefighters too, who still managed to rescue over 100 people from the building complex.


The entire building was engulfed in the fire which was visible from afar. (Image: News18)

The campus of Kamla Mills also accommodates offices of various news and entertainment channels including the Times Network (Times Now, Mirror Now, ET Now, Zoom and Tv9).

Offices of these channels were largely affected by the massive fire as they were located few meters away from London Taxi Gastrobar, a prominent restaurant in the area.

"All the 12 injured are now out of danger," said Avinash Supe, Dean of KEM Hospital.

Five fire engines, water tankers, emergency ambulance and police personnel rushed to the spot for rescue operation, he said.

I spoke to Hon’ble Municipal Commissioner Mehta sir, MLA Sunil Shinde ji and Leader of the House Yashwant Jadhav ji, who were at the place assisting relief ops. Implementing fire audits of such places are a must, and action will be taken if violations are found.

— Aaditya Thackeray (@AUThackeray) December 28, 2017

Anguished by the fire in Mumbai. My thoughts are with the bereaved families in this hour of grief. I pray that those injured recover quickly: PM @narendramodi — PMO India (@PMOIndia) December 29, 2017

President Ram Nath Kovind too condoled the incident and tweeted: "Disturbing news about the fire in Mumbai. Condolences to the bereaved families and wishing the injured an early recovery. Commend the valiant efforts of fire-fighters and those in rescue ops." (sic)

मुंबई मधील कमला मिल्स कंपाऊंडमध्ये भीषण आग लागून अनेकांना आपले प्राण गमवावे लागले ही अत्यंत दुर्दैवी घटना आहे.
पीडितांच्या कुटुंबियांच्या दुःखात मी सहभागी आहे.
या घटनेची त्वरीत चौकशी करून दोषींना कठोर शिक्षा झाली पाहिजे.#KamalaMills

— Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) December 29, 2017

According to the official, the cause of the fire remains to be ascertained.

Families that lost their relatives overnight are struggling to come to terms with the tragedy that struck them from nowhere as the building which is largely a commercial establishment was the workplace of many of the deceased.

This comes just 10 days after 12 persons were killed in a major blaze at a shop in Andheri east.